Rose walked through the halls, lost in thoughts. It seems as though Magnus's words stuck with her. They haunted her all week, each day seemed like it was the last moment she had left Rung, but they also helped remind her why she wanted to move forward. For the sake of everyone around her.

She knew she couldn't avoid Rung forever, eventually they would come face to face with one another.

And that unfortunately, was today. It was one of those days where Rodimus dragged the whole crew with him on one day of the week to hang out together in one of Navis' many countless rooms.

Those meetings were mandatory. She couldn't back out of them even if she wanted.

She and Rung shared the same friends and they will surely know what's up between the two and ask why they were acting strange.

Rose didn't know what to say, she was emotionally unprepared to face Rung this soon, but nonetheless she made her way to the rec room.

She saw a few bots there. Skids and of course Rung were there. She sighed and sat down far from the usual table she seated herself at.

No other bots knew why Rung and Rose were avoiding, some assumed that they had a fight, which was far from the truth. Rung and her had a one night stand they silently agreed to never speak to one another again.

But even then that'll catch the attention of the others. So she was prepared for the inevitable conversation.

As much as she disliked the idea of facing Rung, he deserved an explanation for everything, right? After all the damage done to his psyche by his guilt, the least Rose could do is explain things to him.

So she looked over towards him and noticed he was already looking at her.

They locked eyes, for a moment she feared for his sanity, but she decided to ignore the feeling and just look away.

A few more minutes passed before they felt eyes on them. And sure enough, a few seconds later Rodimus approached them.

"Hey guys! Are you guys having a party or smooching?"

Everyone turned towards him with disgust on their faces, except Rung whose expression remained stoic.

"Not interested." Skids stated in response, while looking at his friend.

"We're not doing anything. We just want to enjoy the peace and quiet of Navis," Rose said.

"Well too bad, because it looks like I'm here to keep you company." Rodimus added pointing to himself with a grin.

Rose groaned, and rolled his optics. Skids chuckled and gave him a playful punch.

It was clear that Rodimus liked the bot a lot, although no one can blame him. Skids was kind, caring and protective bot.

Rose was sure that Skids would do anything to help a friend in need, but Rose couldn't bring herself to ask Skids about friendship advice, as Rodimus and Skids talked, Rose found herself alone. So she decided to keep her helm down.

The rest of the time passes in silence, everyone focused on what the other is saying. Rose didn't realize how close her head was to her knees until Rodimus put his hand on hers, trying to rouse her out of her daze.

"Earth to Rose." He said with a chuckle. "Are you listening to what I was saying?"

She raised her head to see him staring at her with a soft gaze in his eyes.

She smiled gently at him and shook her head slightly.

"I am sorry to have drifted off, I was just thinking about something." Rose explained sheepishly.

"You think too loud sometimes, it distracts me."

The two chuckled awkwardly and avoided each other's eye contact. This went unnoticed by anyone else, as Rodimus continued talking, she wasn't aware that Rodimus was addressing her, thats how bad her daydreaming can get.

But when the time came for Rose to be addressed again, this time, she was ready.

"So..." Skids drawled, "What happened between you and Rung?" Skids asked her.

"I don't have any clue what your talking about, we're fine." Rose said, tapping her digits on the table. Skids gave her a look, and she sighed.

"There's nothing the matter, we're fine." She said.

"Bullslag, I'm your friend I hear and SEE everything. I know there's something going on between you two." Skids said.

Rose's smile dropped, she knew the answer to this question was gonna hurt her, but she thought if Skids knew why the two had stopped speaking after all this time she would feel better about it, she had tried so hard not to fall into this trap. But the damage was done and no amount of pretending would change that.

"Nothing happened, there's nothing happening between us." Rose said firmly. She took a deep breath and stared at her friends, hoping that somehow one of them would give her the comfort she craved.

However, the moment she saw Rung standing a few feet away she felt her spark drop into her tanks.

She hoped that Rung wouldn't say anything. Much to the chagrin of Rose, Rung immediately smiled.

"Yeah, there's nothing going on, we just drifted apart because of our schedules." Rung explained. Rose smiled, as this would, hopefully; quell Skids' and anyone elses suspicion.

Unfortunately, this didn't work and Skids gave her a look that showed she was screwed. Skids always seemed to understand her well and she wished he hadn't been present.

He gave her an apologetic smile.

"Look, I know its hard for you. I get it, but I don't think either one of you are seem okay. If you want, you can always talk to me about whatever happened, but I'd rather you not tell me everything. Trust me, I understand."

That was it. He finally understood. He understood that she couldn't handle being around Rung anymore without thinking about him, or wanting him.

Rose was in pain and felt misery each and every time she was in the same room as Rung, she couldn't bring herself to talk with Rung at all, she couldn't face him. Not after what went down in that room.

"Thanks Skids, but you've been nothing but supportive and helpful lately. I appreciate that, but I can handle my own feelings. I'll see you later?" Rose asked smiling slightly.

Slightly... she wasn't really in a good mood. She just needed to clear her mind and forget about the past few days.

So she sat elsewhere. Skids wrbt back to talking to Rodimus, and by now, Swerve had joined in that conversation blabbing on and on. Rose sighed and listened to her thoughts.

Its been only a few days, and Rose felt sick to her tanks, feeling of nausea... boiled in her stomach.

Her throat constricted, making it nearly impossible to breathe, her head started throbbing painfully. She stood up abruptly and headed toward the closest bathroom, her vision blurred slightly.

When Rose entered the restroom and closed the door behind her, she leaned against it for support.

Her servos grasped her helm, and she shook it. The lingering feeling of nausea returned and she found herself throwing up.

She probably thought it was the stress that was causing her to throw up, she knew it was stress. She didn't think it was too serious. Her symptoms were mostly related to anxiety, it was only getting worse and worse these days, but she thought she'd stop when she stopped seeing Rung.

Rose threw up for a good minute, until she stopped throwing up and leaned heavily on the toilet. Tears escaped her eyes as she slid down the wall. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door.

Then a voice responded shortly after. "Hey Rose? Are you okay?" It was Skids, he might've saw her left and went after her.

Bless his spark. "I'm coming in if that's alright." Rose didn't answer, she couldn't bring herself to say no. She really needed the comfort right now.

As much as she hated it.

Skids opened the door and saw Rose sitting in fetal position leaning on the sink, tears streaming down her face. He immediately stepped closer, kneeling beside her, resting a servo on her shoulder. "Rose..."

Rose couldn't bear to look at him and instead turned her head sideways towards the toliet and let out a small sob, which resulted in another round of vomiting.

After she finished throwing up, she wiped the remaining vomit away from her mouth, and sighed sadly.

"I don't wanna talk about it right now Skids.." Rose croaked out.

"Okay." Skids whispered rubbing circles in her back, "You don't have to. Just take it easy, I'll stay with you till you're ready to leave. Do you mind telling me what's wrong?" He added softly.

"Rung." Rose answered quietly, still avoiding to look directly at him.

Skids nodded in understanding. "Do you want some energon or something?" He suggested.

"Yes please. Could it be low grade energon? I anything stronger than that, I won't be able to hold down at all." She asked softly.

"Of course."

"Just give me five minutes, then bring it for me, kay?"

"Sure thing, I'll wait outside." Skids replied before leaving the bathroom.

Rose stayed inside, trying to calm down her racing processor, and try to make sense of what was going through her head.

She had to admit, that it wasn't her proudest moment, even though she told Skids she could manage herself and they both know how true that is. But when she looked into his optic light and saw his concern, she could no longer stand it. How could he care that much? Even if it was only temporary, could she have gotten away with lying to Skids?

She shook her helm to rid of these thoughts, as she waited for Skids to return with the energon.

As soon as he walked back into the restroom and handed her the cube, she quickly gulped down half the cube before returning the cube to him.

Skids frowned slightly. "Is there anything else you need?"

"No thank you Skids, that should do it for now."

Skids shrugged. "Okay, the group meeting should be over soon, if you want I could tell Rodimus you don't feel well and that you went to your habsuite early."

She smiled at the offer and nodded gratefully. "Thanks Skids."

"No problem Rose." He replied grinning.

"See you soon."

Rose waved goodbye to Skids as he exited the bathroom and headed back to join his friends. Rose remained in the room, she was feeling restless. Something kept nagging at her and wouldn't go away.

It bothered her deeply, especially since she didn't know exactly what was bothering her so badly, or who it was. And that made things even more difficult.

It was starting to feel like a puzzle. After she was sure that Skids had left, she locked the door behind her and collapsed on the floor. She put her head in her hands.

She couldn't lie anymore. Something had to change. And she knew that it will be difficult and risky, but she had to do it. For herself, for everyone.

And for him.

For Rung.

Her spark ached for Rung and for that alone she knew she had to do it.

For her sake, and his. Getting up, Rose walked back to her quarters. No one stopped her, she assumed that Skids already told Rodimus what had happened, she was grateful for a friend like Skids, opening the door to her room, resting tonight.